Exile on Main Street S6
by Bad Day at Black Rock
Summary: Continuation of the series.  Something from their past has come for the family home, springing for a series of reunions.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: These fics are based on real episodes from Supernatural. The characters and plots belong to the creator and writers for the show.

Exile on Main Street

Dean was so torn inside he could hardly stand it. He looked around at his neighbors while they socialized, laughing it up over beers and hamburgers. The guys from work always kept him laughing, and Kayla practically bent over backwards making sure he had everything he wanted. Well, everything she could give him anyway. Being in an environment where people actually gave a shit made him feel good, like he had a real life, which is what was so hard. He had no right to be this happy. Not with what his brother was going through. Sam was in hell while he was hanging out in suburbia. He looked over at Kayla.

"I can't believe he's walking already." She stated, that clear tone of adoration and awe was in her voice as it always was when she talked about him. Alex toddled with wobbly legs around Shannon's backyard, weaving in and out of the other barbeque guests like he was on a mission, without a single care in the world.

"I know!" Shannon agreed. "Katie was just a couple weeks shy of a year. He's what, nine months?"

"Almost ten." Kayla responded.

"He's got places to go." Dean came up behind them and handed Kayla a soda. She'd kind of waned off the beer for awhile now, honestly he thought it was because he drank quite enough for the both of them. "He can't wait around to be old enough to get there." He saw him getting close to the grill and scooped him up, as he lifted him high into the air Alex broke into a fit of giggles. No matter what it took to get to this point, that kid was the only thing he'd never feel guilty about. There was nothing about him he didn't love. He brought him over to Kayla. "You about ready?"

"Yeah." She answered, a little surprised. He wasn't even drunk yet and usually these weekly get-togethers were a highlight for him. It helped him relax. "You want to go home?"

"It's about nap time isn't it?" He murmured quietly, then leaned in to kiss her neck. Torn or not, he'd never let it get in between them.

"Oh God would you two get a room?" Shannon rolled her eyes with a chuckle, but she had that kind of sad look to her eyes. She joked about being a desperate housewife with her husband in the military, but Kayla always thought she may be a little envious of how close they seemed to be.

Kayla laughed quietly. "I think that's what he's trying to do."

"Alright, alright. Leave." She shooed them towards the gate and unlatched the lock. "I'll see you tomorrow."

As they walked across the yard, Alex squirmed in her arms. He wasn't one to be carried, at least, not since he became mobile. Ever since he could crawl he wanted to move on his own, he seemed to crave independence and that was terrifying to her. Still, she set him in the grass and they slowed their pace to let him walk back towards the house. It was best not to restrain a Winchester. Her eyes went to Dean, watching the concentration on his face. That's what they were doing here in this home town place; restraining him. "You okay?"

"Fine." He answered, an automatic response he'd had to give hundreds of times over the last year. It wasn't supposed to come off so monotone, but he didn't see a point in over explaining anything. She knew why he was the way he was. "I guess, I don't know."

She sighed quietly; she had been a little over-concerned with him lately. After months of tranquility, his nightmares began to surface again. Of course they paled in comparison to the way they were: the violent outbursts at all hours of the night, waking the dead, but they still had an impact on him. "You're restless."

"Maybe." He wasn't sure restless was the word for it. Alex got distracted with a flower in the grass and stopped to look at it. "Hey dude, you want me to carry you?"

Alex turned to look at him with a furrowed brow and gave him a look of irritation that could have been an exact replica of Dean's. The resemblance was uncanny.

"Ooo." Kayla hissed with a laugh. "Look at that face. God he's like a little clone of you." She reached down and ruffled his dark hair, producing an even more severe look of irritation from the boy. He didn't like to be babied, unless he asked for it of course. They spent a lot of time trying to figure out exactly what he wanted at any given moment.

He held his hands up in defense, holding back the proud smirk that spread across his face. "My bad man, I'll leave you alone." Just like that he went back to what he was doing.

Are you still going for drinks tonight with Sid?"

"Yeah, wouldn't want to hurt his feelings." He shrugged indifferently; he'd been having drinks once a week with this guy for months. Sid was alright, he supposed, it was just hard making conversation when you have to cover up your whole life. He had to lie his ass off just to make it seem like he wasn't hiding anything.

"Well that'll be good, right? A little downtime to yourself."

She always thought that, it was always the first thing she suggested when he got like this. "I don't need downtime from you, or from him." He motioned to Alex. "You know that's not it."

"I know." She admitted. Unfortunately she couldn't give him 'it'. The one thing he needed in his life right now was peace of mind and it wasn't in her ability to give it to him. He needed to know his whole family was safe and secure and it just wasn't true. "I'm sorry."

He shrugged again, signaling the end of the conversation. There wasn't a need to get into it again, not now. "Not your fault." Alex stopped again, this time at a patch of clovers and Dean gave up the treck back to the house. He sat next to him in the grass. "You're kind of easily distracted."

Kayla raised an eyebrow, looking between the two of them. "Wonder where he got that from."

He smirked, relieved that she was following him away from the path of concern. She was always worried about something. "Definitely you."

"Right, that's totally where I was going with that." She sat down beside him, leaning on his shoulder to watch Alex pull absently at random blades of grass.

There was no sense in trying to pull Dean out of prolonged grieving, he was justified and honestly she felt the same way. In a normal family, a loss in the family was due to an illness or an accident or worst case a horrible crime. Sam hadn't just died. He'd jumped willingly into hell, saving the world, and in return got to spend eternity being tortured. There would be no comforting regards about a better place or his soul being at peace. He would have no peace, no rest, no salvation where he was.


	2. Chapter 2

Going out for drinks with Sid didn't help matters. He always wanted war stories, he wanted to know about his life before suburbia. Maybe that's just what normal guys did; they talked about 'the good ole days', which, according to Sid, were the days before marriage and kids. He was a firm believer in the whole ball and chain gig. Not that he wasn't happy with this family, well, he just wasn't overly thrilled about settling down. Dean never told him he didn't really share his view. Granted, Kayla was way hotter than Sid's wife, maybe that's where he was lacking. Or, maybe Sid was just a dick that couldn't get over his days at the frat house.

That was a big reason he and Kayla never went anywhere with Sid and his wife. It was just awkward for them. Sid and his wife didn't click the way he and Kayla did. Nothing was a battle for them, in this environment, there was nothing so dramatically important worth fighting over. It wasn't a debate over which way to do this or which way to do that, everything just, _was._ Sometimes he wondered if some of Sam's psychic energy rubbed off on her, because she seemed to have things done the way he would have done them, before he can even think to do them.

After his short evening of lying up another set of stories from his fake pre-family life, he was more than ready to get home. On his way to his car he heard something familiar but completely unexpected in this case; a scream. It was coming from a hotel across the street. it had been shut down to be completely gutted and renovated, making it the perfect location to kill someone and hide some bodies. He grabbed his gun out of his car and went to investigate, but only found scratches on the wall and a blood trail. Whatever had happened there, he was too late to change it.

When he got home he went in quietly as he could though his adrenaline was pumping, Kayla was usually asleep by this hour. He got on the computer and started an immediate investigation; missing persons, police reports, he even called the local PD. As a usual investigation, no one knew a damn thing. Home sweet home.

"No disappearances in the area at all?" He paused, listening to the officer. "I don't know, call it a hunch. I've been a police officer a long time." His eyes scanned the computer again but the movement in the doorway caught his eye and he saw Kayla standing there. "Yeah man, no problem. See you tomorrow." He hung up the phone. "Hey babe, he wake up?"

"No." She gave him a look, not buying that act for a second. As she walked around the computer she saw the police scanner pulled up, immediately recognizing their local PD name. "What are you doing?"

He shot her a look of complete and utter guilt; the kind of look you would expect from a man who'd been caught looking at porn. He would have rather she caught him with that. "I just, I heard something tonight and…"

Concern immediately took over her face. "You're investigating. You think there's a job? Here?" Monsters in the neighborhood, wouldn't that be great after all this time?

"I don't know, I think so. I heard a scream inside that old hotel by the bar. When I went in there were these claw marks on the wall, and a blood trail up the stairs. I looked around but I couldn't find anything."

"What kind of claw marks? Like a werewolf?"

"Who knows? Until they find a body, I won't know what it is." Unfortunately that's how things worked with them. They never knew anything was wrong until someone turned up dead.

The fear of something coming after Alex crept into her mind and she nodded slowly, trying to remain calm about the whole thing. If there was a job, she hoped like hell it was just a coincidence. Everything had been so quiet. Maybe it was nothing, maybe it was just a murder. They were so strange to think of person on person homicide was normal. "It's late. Look into some more tomorrow, okay?"

"You're not pissed?"

She forced the smile, not because she was mad at him, but because she was scared to death all of a sudden. "You heard screaming, there was nothing anyone woul dhave been able to do to keep your instincts from going into that building. It's in your blood. If it's our kind of hunt, so be it. You can take on whatever it is. Just, for now, come to bed."

"I'm just gonna check the locks again." It was something he would have done anyway; something he did every night.

"Okay." She kissed him and went back upstairs; there'd be no sleep for either of them until they figured this one out.

The next morning he got up and got ready for work the same way he always did and tried not to seem over eager about the possibility of a job. Their kind of job. One his way to the shop he spotted claw marks on a telephone pole outside one of the neighbor's houses, similar to the ones he saw at the hotel. He hesitated, but Kayla had told him he could look into it. He pulled up to the fence and tucked his gun underneath his shirt. He cautiously went through the backyard, where he found more claw marks, this time bloody, on the door of their shed. The adrenaline built up inside him as he approached the door and he kicked it in…to find a yorkie. Horrifying. Well, they kind of were.

"Dean! Is that a gun?"

He turned to see Sid, out for his morning job, being a nosy neighbor damn it. "What? No, well, yes. I've got a permit for it." That sounded strange coming from him, and he doubted a permit was Sid's concern at the moment.

"To shoot a dog?"

"Well I thought it was a possum. Remember, when I said I was pest control? Possums carry rabies." It was the first thing that came to mind and Sid seemed to be eating it up.

"I didn't know that." He stated in surprise; oh blissful ignorance.

"Oh yeah, possums…possums kill, so…yeah." A small pile of yellow powder caught his eye and he leaned down, he swore his heart stopped beating.

"What's that?" Sid asked casually.

"Sulfur." He muttered, then jumped to his feet. "I gotta go."

Before Sid could make more small talk with him about possums and rabies he was back in his car, tearing back towards the house. Shannon would be over by now, they wouldn't even hear him rummaging through the garage with everything so friggen insulated. He wished he could get into the basement but the garage would have to do. No sense in alarming Kayla until he was absolutely sure of what was going on. Though with sulfur, it wasn't hard to figure out.

As he dug through his smaller supply of hunting materials in the garage, the lights began to flicker over his head. He drew his shotgun out of the toolbox and stood up. There was a banging in the corner and he saw one of Alex's balls roll out from under the car. It was just what he needed this morning; a demon in his damn house. He walked around the side of the car but saw nothing. Maybe he was losing it. As he turned around he was shocked to find himself face to face with Azazel. Azazel? He was losing it.

"Hi Dean." He grinned in that way he did, always grinning like a mad man. "Look what the apocalypse shook loose. Did you have fun sniffing out that trail? 'Cause I sure had fun batting you around."

His mind was reeling. Not here, not in _his_ house with _his_ family. This couldn't be fucking happening after all this time. "You can't be."

"Oh sure I can. The big daddy brought your buddy Cas back, right? So why not me? Add a little spice to all that sugar." He looked at him triumphantly, bring forth all his doubts and insecurities. Son of a bitch.

The sound was distinct. Kayla heard a gunshot go off in the garage and her breath caught in her throat as every hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Shannon had heard the noise too, but she hadn't recognized is as a gunshot. She wouldn't if she'd never heard one, and of course she'd never heard a sawed off shotgun fire.

"What the hell was that?" She asked.

"Mr. Miller." She rolled her eyes, instantly covering everything up. They couldn't lose everything they had here, they couldn't just let it go. "He hits our garage door with his golf balls, happens all the time."

"Geez." She breathed, acting like it had scared her half to death when it seemed to just have annoyed her. "Scared me to death, you want me to say something?"

"No, of course not." She smiled. "Hey you know what, I totally forgot I've gotta get ready to take Alex to the doctor, do you mind?"

"No problem!" She was so oblivious to trouble it was ridiculous. She didn't question her explanation to the noise, and she left without a fight. Everything was just so right in her little world.

Kayla set Alex in his playpen and handed him a couple toys to keep him busy before taking a gun out of its hiding spot in the kitchen. She walked around the side of the kitchen and stopped at the garage door. There was a lot of commotion but she heard the garage door slam back shut and opened the door. No one was there. She slammed her hand down on the button abut it opened so damn slow, like there was gonna be a kid clinging to the outside or something that would make fast opening a danger to society. She couldn't see who it was that was leaving. Dean's Impala was back in the garage; she swore he'd left this morning.

She went back into the house and called his cell, nothing. She called the shop and they told her he hadn't shown up yet and he hadn't called anyone. _Oh God._ There really was a hunt. "Cas?" She called out and her voice broke. "Castiel!" Nothing, of course. He was probably busy she was sure and he wished he was still using his cell phone. She looked to Alex, completely calm in the midst of all this, watching her pace back and forth with a look on his face that was the picture of innocence. First things first; she had to pack their bags.


	3. Chapter 3

Dean woke with his heart pounding in his head. After a moment he was able to focus and found himself in a dark, boarded up room of an old house with Sam sitting across from him. This was totally normal, Sam sitting there, because he was dead. Azazel found him and killed him. He could only hope that he left Kayla and Alex out of it. Dean sat up and looked at him.

"Hey Dean." Sam sat calmly on the bed on the other side of the room. He chuckled quietly when he didn't get a response out of him. He was still processing. "I expected, I don't know, a hug? Holy water in the face, something." As per their usual traditions.

"So I'm dead?" His brother was laughing at him, he didn't think it was funny. Not even in an ironic way. "This is heaven, yellow eyes killed me?"

"Yellow eyes? Is that what you saw?" His tone turned serious, realizing how upset Dean was about the whole thing.

Dean tilted his head, confused and exhausted from whatever beat the hell out of him. "What do mean is that what I saw?"

"You were poisoned. So, forget about everything that you've been seeing. It's not real."

He thought about the scream from the hotel, the blood trail, the scratches on the pole outside the neighbor's house. Everything Azazel told him he did. It was all part of a bad trip? "So, are you real? Or…"

"I'm real." He touched his chest like that was going to prove it. Like if he would admit to being some sort of hallucination or demon. The disbelief must have been clear in his eyes and Sam sighed quietly. "Here, I'll save you the trouble." First he took a silver blade from his pocket and cut himself with hit. Then, he poured a little rock salt into a jug of holy water and took a deep swallow, nearly gagging, but he swallowed. "All me." He set the jug down. "And that's nasty."

Dean stood and looked at him, trying not to lose his mind. Oh wait, too late. "Sammy?"

He held his hands up. "Yeah, it's me."

He stepped forward cautiously, with everything that had happened in the last two days he wasn't overly trusting of his own judgment. Maybe he was missing something, something obvious because he wanted him back so badly. Maybe he didn't give a damn. He hugged his brother tightly and fought against a flood of tears. Before he could get too far into this guaranteed chick flick moment, he stepped back for an explanation. He kind of needed one. "Wait a minute. You were gone man, how the hell are you…"

"I don't know." He replied simply, they had yet to figure it out.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I have no idea, I'm just, back."

"Was it God? Or Cas? Does Cas know anything about it?" Surely Cas knew something, he had always heard something. He wondered why he didn't pop in the second it happened.

Sam shrugged. "I've been calling him, he doesn't answer any of my prayers. I don't even know where he is. I was down there, and the next minute, it was raining, and I was lying in that field. Alone. It's kind of hard to go looking for whatever saved you when you got no leads. Trust me, I looked. For weeks." He didn't get the same show Dean did; the light, the buildings shaking, the appearance of an angel. He got crap.

Dean was trying to add all this up in his head. Cas had to know he was out of hell, maybe there just hadn't been time to…did he say weeks? "Wait, weeks? How long have you been back?"

It was obviously a small detail he didn't want to share, but he also knew there wasn't going to be any avoiding of the topic at this point. It was now or, well, now. "About a year."

"About a year?" He shot at him, infuriated all of a sudden. That warm fuzzy feeling that embraced his return was gone. "You've been back practically this whole time? What did you lose the ability to send a freakin' text message?"

"You finally had what you wanted." He remained calm about the whole thing, like nothing was wrong. Like everything was just going to be fine.

"I wanted my brother, alive!"

"You wanted a family Dean. You have for a long time, maybe the whole time, I know you. You only have it up because of the way we lived. Now you've got Kayla, and the baby, I heard his name is Alex…that's great man. It's awesome. I didn't want to screw it up. I'm sorry, but after everything, you deserve some regular life."

He rubbed his mouth; he didn't know if he could even stay pissed off at him long enough to rationalize this. Sam had been alive nearly the whole time, alive and well. Through all the nightmares, all the anxiety, he had been safe. Was he supposed to be mad or relieved? "What have you been doing?"

"Hunting." He sat back down and gave him a look, what else was he supposed to be doing?

"You left me alone and you were flying solo?"

"Not solo," he shrugged. "I hooked up with some other people."

Dean couldn't believe any of this. It was a hell of a lot all at once. They missed an entire year out of each other's lives. "_You, _working with strangers?"

"More like, family. And they're here." He motioned to the door of the bedroom like it was some magical entryway that could answer all his questions. Sam led him out of the small back room and into the main area of the house. There seemed to be a small gathering and they were definitely hunters, judging by the arsenal. It seemed so strange, Sam hunting with all these people when it had just been the two of them for so long.

The woman closest to them turned and eyed him. "Hey."

"Hey." He replied awkwardly.

"My God you have delicate features for a hunter."

"Excuse me?"

"Dean," Sam interrupted before a pissing match could start. "Gwen Campbell."

She smiled, suddenly all open and inviting. "Glad to finally meet you. Sam's gone on and on."

Sam continued the round of introductions, pointing out the various members of his little posse. "This is Christian and Mark, Campbell."

Dean reached out to shake Christian's hand. "Campbell, like…"

"Like your mom."

Sam motioned back around the room again, reversing his order. "Third cousin, third cousin…something, twice removed. They grew up in the life, like us."

Well God damn. They weren't the only ones cursed with a shitty childhood chasing down ghosts and demons. "I thought all mom's relatives were gone. I mean I'm sorry, but, how come we didn't know about any of you?"

"Because they didn't know about you." Okay, this trip was really starting to get bad because he swore it was his grandfather Samuel that walked out. "Not until I brought you all together."

"Samuel." He stated, dumbfounded.

"Come here." He gave him a firm hug, why was everyone so fricken cheery about all of this? It didn't make any sense. "Guys, give me a second with my grandsons please." The rest of the hunters filed out, for the most part giving Dean a suspicious stare along the way. Samuel nodded to him. "A lot of resurrections in your face today, it's okay. Take a minute."

"It might take more than a minute. I mean, what the hell? How did this happen?"

"We're guessing that whatever pulled Sam up pulled me down, we just down know what that is, or why."

Dean stared at him. "And you have no leads, nothing? That's um…there's no more doornails coming out of that door is there?"

Sam shook his head. "As far as we know it's Samuel, and it's me." It probably did seem completely strange to him, even for Dean.

"Am I the only one who doesn't think this is all just fine?"

"Of course not." Samuel grimaced. "I wanted to come get you, Sam was adamant about leaving you out so we did. Until this."

Suddenly his mind was brought back into the present, into what was going on outside this little house of horrors. "And what is 'this'? How'd you end up at my place?"

"I got hit before you did," Sam explained. "A couple days ago, dosed up with poison by a couple of djinn."

"Djinn? I thought those were cave-dwelling hermit type. That's pretty exotic."

"These are different. They look like regular people, they blend in, and all they gotta do to kill you is touch you. Their toxins get in your system, all of a sudden you're hallucinating your worst nightmares and then you OD. Luckily Samuel had a cure."

This was a little much. He turned to his grandfather. "You got a cure for djinn poisoning?" He'd never even considered something like that.

"Well I know a few things." He smirked confidently. "Stick around and I'll show you a few tricks your daddy never even dreamed of."

Dean shook his head, trying to take all of this in. The lines between acid trip and reality were starting to look pretty damn thin. "So why are they after us?"

"Well you did stake one." Sam pointed out. "After they went after me, we figured you would be next." Apparently djinn held a grudge, heh, who knew right?

It wasn't random, son of a bitch he had hoped it was random. This thing was after revenge. Family for family. "You have to take me home."

"It's alright." Samuel said soothingly. "We already sent somebody over there to watch them."

He looked at his brother, not believing he let some random hunter, distant family or not, be in charge of protecting Kayla and the baby. What the hell was he thinking? "No." He spit out. "Right now." Crazy train was over.


	4. Chapter 4

Her cell phone was dead, and the house phone disconnected. A million graphic scenes went through Dean's mind as they approached the house. He was out the door before the car stopped and barely glanced to the car in front of the house. The 'lookout' they'd sent appeared dead against his steering wheel; poisoned. Within seconds he was through the front door.

"Kayla? Kayla!"

He heard a surprised yelp and ran into the kitchen. Castiel was there; he pulled a knife from the body of a djinn laying motionless on the floor. Kayla stood behind him, but here was blood, hers. She's gotten hurt and he wasn't even there.

"Dean." She ran over and threw her arms around him, all the color had left her. "Oh God it was in the house, it got in the house…" Her mind also went to the worst scenarios. If that thing had gotten Alex…

He pulled her against him, his brain working right along side hers. "Where's Alex?"

"In his crib, he's okay." Her voice trembled with the rest of her. She usually didn't react like this to an attack but she couldn't help it. It was too close to home, too close to the baby.

"Are you?" He questioned and pulled her back to look at the blood running down her arm. He already hated himself for not protecting her and sent a little bit of the resentment in Sam's direction for sending a stranger to watch over her. "What the hell happened?"

"She shot the djinn." Castiel explained, pointing out simple facts. "It made him angry." Shooting a djinn would make it disagreeable at most, it certainly wasn't going to kill it.

Kayla threw her hands up in frustration, the fear taking over a bit of her reasoning. "Yeah because God forbid we don't keep a fresh supply of lamb's blood in the house." She tried to sound angry about it, but it came out mostly terrified. She needed to get a grip but it had scared her half to death having that thing in the house. "Where the hell were you? You disappeared, you couldn't call?"

"The lines were dead, trust me I tried."

She looked at him and kissed him firmly, thankful that nothing had happened to him either. It had been in her mind since the shot in the garage and all in all, things could have turned out a hell of a lot worse. She quickly rinsed the blood off her arm in the kitchen sink, patting a towel against the wound for now in the rush of the moment. "I'm going to go check on…" she stopped mid-sentence as she came into the living room and saw Sam standing there near the front door. "Sam."

He half waved, like it was completely normal. He had been listening in amusement to the conversation in the kitchen. "Surprise. You don't have to check on me, I'm okay."

Her mind didn't have time to ask questions, not yet anyway. All she could do was run over and throw her arms around him, hugging the crap out of him. "Oh my God."

He laughed quietly. "Good to see you too."

"_I'll_ check on the baby." Dean smirked and headed up the stairs. Bad trip or not, his had this brother back and that he knew for sure felt good. For everyone.

"I can't believe you're here, for real." She touched his face, then wiped the tears from her eyes and pulled him down by the neck, down to her level so she could kiss him on the forehead. With everything she had been holding back, she felt like she could break into uncontrollable sobs at any moment. "We missed you, would be a devastating understatement. How did you get back?"

"We're still working on that part." He smiled.

"Right, of course. Who cares right now right?" She shook her head and grinned as the excitement took over her, she hugged him again.

He smiled and glanced to the stairs. "Well look at that. It's not a rifle you know."

"Shut up." Dean was carrying Alex down the stairs, he was laid against his shoulder with his head down.

Kayla walked over to him. "Was he awake?" She rubbed his back and he looked at her groggily.

"No," he told her. "But we gotta go. There's more than one of these things."

She grimaced; of course there was more than one. "I happen to have the bags packed already. I prepared, go figure." She took another look at Sam, like he might suddenly disappear again, then jobbed up the stairs. She still couldn't believe it.

"When you tell _her_ how long you've been back, I'd duck." Dean smirked. "She won't be as easy on you." He was kind of counting on her overreaction to that one; someone needed to deck him in the face for not contacting them. He didn't even show up for his nephew being born, not even a freaking phone call. Dick.

"Good God Dean, the kid looks just like you." Sam leaned sideways to look at his face. "Poor thing."

Dean laughed, some of the tension easing off again. "Shut up." He turned the sleepy child towards his brother. "Alex, this is your Uncle Sam, the good one. Not like the government." He laughed at his own joke, finding it funnier than he should have. "Uncle Sam."

Sam rolled his eyes and offered a small smile to the child. "Hey buddy." He said softly.

Alex didn't so much as crack a smile. He usually liked strangers, or was at least tolerant of them. With Sam he just stared at him, like he was waiting.

"What'd I do?"

"I don't know." Dean looked at him. "He's usually friendly. He's probably wondering why the hell you're so freakishly tall." Suddenly he realized they were missing a person and he walked back towards the kitchen. "Where'd Cas go?"

Sam looked around, kind of curious himself. "He must have taken off…I don't even get a hey out of him? Oh wait, I'm not his favorite."

"I'm sure he still loves you." Dean pat his shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm not his favorite anymore either." They both turned to the loud sound of several bags hitting the bottom of the stairs. Babies were a lot harder to pack for than hunters. Very high maintenance. Kayla walked down after the bags.

"So why are these things after us?" Not that they needed a specific reason, but she would like to know.

"We're not positive," Sam told her. "But, judging from the targets, they knew the djinn we tangled with earlier. Maybe they're family."

"I didn't even know djinn _had_ families." She grumbled. Not that it would have made a difference; if that djinn had bawled about a family at home they would have killed him anyway for fucking with Dean. Huh. Apparently they were being shown the same respects. Sucks when there's two sides to a situation; that damn gray area. Kayla shifted the bags into a neat pile and glanced around the room. "Where's Cas?"

Dean tried not to chuckle; of course she hadn't forgotten about Cas, even with Sam standing in front of her. He'd give her slack on that one, the guy had just saved her ass-again. "Already took off. Apparently he was too busy for us, didn't say a word. Trade." He handed her the baby and grabbed the bags. Alex was already squirming to be put down but they didn't have time to argue with the kid.

"Well that was nice of him. Thank you." She looked at Sam and hugged him again with her free arm, inhaling deeply as she buried her face in his shoulder. "You smell good." Really he just smelled like Sam, but at the moment that was good-really good. She tried not to break down again, not now anyway. Time and palce.

"Alright easy there tiger, come on." Dean set a hand on her back, keeping her emotions in check for when they weren't trying to flee a killer. "We're heading over to Bobby's place."

Alex had thankfully slipped back into a peaceful slumber once the car was moving; the Impala always did that to him. Any time they were having trouble getting the little restless spirit to sleep Dean would put him in his car seat and drive around the block until he passed out. By the time they got home he was so deep into his sleep they could move him anywhere. He always slept so soundly; he didn't have any paranoia yet that made him jump at each and every noise like his parents.

Sam had sat up front with Dean but Kayla still talked his ear off the entire ride, mostly running through the same line of questioning Dean had already asked him. As it did with Dean, the questions brought them to the same intersection: the fact that Sam had been out of hell for a year and hadn't called them. Hadn't stopped by, hadn't told anyone to deliver a message. He just let them believe he was still dead, being tortured for eternity in the pit. That left the car quiet for awhile but she couldn't wrap her head around staying angry at him, not when she was so glad to see him alive. Damn him. She'd be angry later, really.


	5. Chapter 5

After the long process of unlocking it, Bobby opened his front door to find Dean's straight faced expression and Kayla standing behind him holding Alex. If it were a family visit they would have called; he'd been hunting a lot lately and they would have made sure he was going to be home. The reasons could be countless, but they were looking for sanctuary. He cursed internally. Everything had been going so well.

"Hey Bobby." Kayla smiled faintly as Dean lead them inside the house, making themselves welcome but looking far from comfortable.

"What's wrong?"

"Djinn attack, the usual." Dean grimaced as he set his bags down. It wasn't supposed to be usual, not anymore, and certainly not in his house. The very idea of it still got his blood boiling but he tried to keep it under wraps. "Can we crash?" He already knew the answer but it never hurt to pretend to be courteous.

"Of course, you guys know where everything is." He looked at the already eager toddler and raised his eyebrows. "I wouldn't let him touch too much, you know everything's rigged."

Alex looked at him, seemingly knowing that he was being talked about and he held his arms out towards him with a smile. "Ba ba ba ba ba…" He babbled continuously, repeating the same sound.

"That kid need a bottle?" He scratched his beard and looked a little nervous about the subject at all. "I hope you came prepared with _those_ supplies, I definitely ain't got 'em."

Kayla laughed quietly and shifted him to her other arm. "Ba ba ba or however many times he decides to say it isn't bottle. It's you, Ba ba ba-bee." She smirked, finding it incredibly endearing that he had sounds for his favorite people, the ones that mattered to him.

Well he couldn't just stare at the kid forever, especially now that he was calling him by name or whatever you'd call it. He reached out and took him, barely able to hold back a grandfatherly smile. As he did during the other more recent visits, Alex lifted a hand and began petting his beard like it was a puppy, smiling away the whole time.

Sam came in then and everyone got quiet for a moment. Dean looked between them, a smug smile on his face with secret satisfaction at the return of his brother. It was going to take some getting used to seeing that kid's face again.

"Hey Bobby." Sam nodded to him.

Bobby nodded back, his expression calm and more importantly-knowing. There was no surprise in his face, just recognition. "Sam."

Dean's jaw tightened; it didn't take much to tie those together. Son of a bitch. "You knew. Bobby…" He reigned in his temper before he could lash out at him. This wasn't the time. "You knew Sam was alive." It wasn't a question in any way, it was more of a disgusted statement. Hell was there a fricken billboard outside his house with this announcement that he just missed?

Sam pushed the door shut, locking it behind him and opened up his wallet. He pulled out a picture and held it out to Dean. He took it from him and saw it was a picture from the hospital; dean and Kayla with the baby. "Bobby gave it to me. He kept me updated with you guys."

"You've gotta be kidding me." Dean practically growled at him and shoved the picture back in his hand. "The whole freakin' time?" Alex was looking at him now, a somewhat scolding look on his face and Dean lowered his tone slightly. Leave it to a child to be the one person on the planet that could control him. "Before he was even born you knew?" He couldn't believe this from Bobby and he walked over to him, still furious.

Kayla already saw where this was going and she took the baby from Bobby. He didn't really need to be in the middle of an argument, even if Dean was trying to stay calm about it. Kids could tell those things, they could sense the mood of the room and she didn't want him to get upset. "I'm gonna get him situated." She grabbed one of the bags and headed upstairs.

Dean didn't waste any time laying into him. "You're family Bobby. You came into my house, all those times, pretending like everything was just fine and dandy…"

"And I'd do it again." Bobby replied honestly, there wasn't a point in hiding it now so he might as well get an explanation from him. He sure as hell wasn't going to feel guilty about it.

"Why?" His voice was laced with confused anxiety, none of this made sense to him. They had no right to keep this from them.

"Because you got out Dean! You walked away from the life! I was so damned grateful, you have no idea." He didn't see why Dean couldn't understand, everyone wanted this for him. Everyone wanted him to stay out of the chaos.

"Do you have any _clue_, what walking away meant for me?"

"Yeah." He snapped at him before he could spout off something stupid. "Kayla, your son, _normal_."

"Normal?" He took a breath and shook his head with an annoyed smile. "'Cause it's totally normal to drink past reason every night, have nightmares that wake the whole damn house up, with Kayla killing herself trying to keep me sane, all while I was going out of my damn mind trying to figure out how to get Sam outta the pit!"

Sam straightened up, looking offended. "I told you to leave it alone, you promised." He argued.

"Of course I didn't leave it alone! Sue me!" He rubbed his eyes, looking back at Bobby. His was the worst. The constant contact, all the visits back and forth and he never said a damn word. "The whole year? And you couldn't put me out of my misery?"

"Look, I _get_ that it was hard." Bobby told him, making no apologies for his decision. "But that's life, and it's as close to happiness as I've ever seen a hunter get. It ain't like I wanted to lie to you son, but you were _out._"

He grimaced, biting back another slew of bitter words for him with everything he had. "Do I look out to you?" His mind was reeling, and he couldn't take another word out of either of their mouths. As far as he was concerned they'd both lied to him, hell it was a fucking community effort.

Upstairs, he stood in the doorway while Kayla sat on the bed with Alex, letting him play with an old relic necklace that Bobby had probably left sitting on the dresser. Of course a hunter's son would play with a charm to ward off evil spirits as a toy. His brow furrowed as he frowned, because of course a hunter's son would have to be taking refuge with an other hunter, because of something his father had done. Oh the sins of the father…

"Hey." Kayla smiled softly at him, taking him from his concentrated anger. She got up and walked over to him. "You haven't punched the crap out of anyone yet." Her hand tugged slightly at his shirt. "That's really good, you know, considering the circumstances." That was ridiculously good really, but she would try not to focus on that part. She was just as shocked as he was about the whole thing.

"Yeah no crap." He tucked her hair behind her ear and already saw the change in her expression. Despite the circumstances she was more relaxed, and the emotion wasn't forced in her expression. She didn't have to put up a strong front about Sam any longer, she could finally move on. Might as well go ahead and fill her in on the rest of the story. "So, my grandfather is also back from the dead. And if that isn't weird enough for you, Sam has been hunting with him, along with a bunch of my mom's relatives, who are all born and raised hunters." He was pretty sure their lives couldn't get much more screwed up at this point.

She laughed to keep from having the reaction he did; she didn't even know what to say about it anymore. The whole thing seemed like a horrible fantasy story. "When it rains it pours doesn't it? Well, just so we can get the full effect right away and be pissed off about everything at the same time, you know Cas had to have known about this too. He's perched in heaven, there's no way he _didn't_ know."

"Shit." He breathed; Cas had been around more than Bobby and he'd kept his mouth shut too. What was this a freaking conspiracy? Cas couldn't keep his mouth shut about anything. "That's what put the stick back up his ass. He was keeping it from us." His expression softened some as the initial shock of the situation wore off. "Broke your heart a little didn't it?"

"It did," she admitted, touching her chest dramatically. "Cas lied to me, so uncool."

"Da da."

He looked over and saw him standing on the bed with his arms outreached; he should probably be more aware of his language around him if he didn't want his initial vocabulary to be a colorful one. Wouldn't the neighbors love that. With a crooked smile he picked him up and sat down on the bed. "Hey buddy, dad's gotta go for a little bit."

"What do you mean?" Kayla asked quickly. It was a jerk reaction, but of course he had to go. There were djinn hunting the house, he couldn't just sit here and let someone else handle it. She should have seen that coming as soon as she saw Sam.

"We can't just leave the djinn to scour the neighborhood for me. They might get bored and start taking out neighbors. "We won't be gone long, just long enough to take him out, I'll come right back baby I promise." Her expression didn't change and he sighed quietly, pulling her down to their level on the bed. "We knew it was gonna happen, we both did. Something would come, and it did, now we have to do damage control to make sure it's gone and nothing followed it to our doorstep okay?"

"I know." She nodded. "I know you have to."

Dean hated that look on her face, like hope was slipping away right in front of him. He tried not to think of it like that. He was going to make all this work, he wasn't going to let them down. "I'm sorry, I should have been there today." He ran his fingers tenderly over the bandage on her arm; Cas had taken off in such a hurry he didn't even fix her up first. The wound wasn't a bad one but it was the principle of the thing and he leaned forward to kiss her. "It's not going to happen again. This isn't me going back, they messed with us first."

Kayla looked at him and that forced smile worked its way back to the surface. They messed with us first. Something told her it wouldn't be the last time she heard that line out of him. She wondered how long it would be now, with Sam being back and actively hunting. How long would it be before he asked for his brother's help? The thought had to be forced back and she stayed supportive of the idea. These djinn did deserve what was coming to them. "Give 'em hell."


	6. Chapter 6

He caught up with Sam and the rest of the Campbell crew at the old house, where they were preparing for the fight with the djinn. The typical hunter pre-fight activities were covered; cleaning weapons, sitting around talking shit, talking the big talk. He hoped they could deliver a little more than this. If not, well, they better step back and stay the hell out of his way. "So what's the plan?" He asked.

"Well, right now we stock up and get set." Samuel answered.

Dean paused. "So you're saying there is no plan." He thought these guys were supposed to be good at this.

Samuel gave him a look that he didn't like at all. It was condescending, sort of like _oh isn't he precious._ "We'll find them. You just gotta be patient."

"Yeah, yeah of course." He grimaced. "Or here's an alt, why don't we go kill the sons of bitches that broke into my home?" He liked his plan better, a lot better. _You just gotta be patient._ Was he fricken serious?

Tweedle Dee decided to chime in while he was playing with his gun. "Relax Dean, we got it handled. Djinn are hard to draw out. You been out of the game for awhile, leave it to the professionals."

"Yeah, sure." He agreed quickly again, only to keep from ripping someone's head off. Who the hell did they think they were talking to? "Tiny suggestion though, see, djinn are easier to draw out, when you got bait. They want Sam and me, they know where I live. Now I haven't been 'hunting' in awhile but I'm gonna stick my neck out and say that's a pretty good place to go." They all looked at him for a moment, like they realized all of a sudden he might know what he's talking about. "See, it's almost like I'm a professional." Samuel and Gwen smiled at least.

As soon as they started setting up shop at the house he regretted the idea. He didn't like them touching everything, going through their personal items, it felt like an invasion of privacy. Mark picked up one of the framed photos on an end table and Dean immediately went on the defense.

"Hey, hey…" He walked over and took the picture, setting it back in its place. "Do me a favor and don't touch anything huh?"

"Ah look at that." Sam said from the kitchen, then of course had to follow up by bringing the item out for everyone to see. "A magic bullet. Not just for the bedroom." He held up the food processor with a smirk.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Shut up and put it back." Kayla loved that thing, she'd have his ass if they broke it. _Hmm._ Maybe he had gotten a bit domestic.

Meanwhile Gwen was cooing over Alex's pack and play, pointing out the array of soft fluffy things. It was all a little much for him. This wasn't a place for hunters, this was a family home. He took retreat into the kitchen, snatching the processor from Sam on the way in and slid it back against the counter. After splashing some water on his face his head began to clear slightly; he needed to look at this like a job. It's just a job, and it's just temporary. As he turned around, Samuel was coming in.

"Nice house."

"Yeah go ahead and say it, call me a soccer mom, whatever." He could take whatever they could throw at him. Well, eventually he would throw back and it would most likely come in a blow to the face, but they were welcomed to keep pushing.

"Soccer mom huh?" He shrugged. "I'll have to look that up on the intra-net." His pronunciation was all wrong, Dean had to remember he wasn't from this era. "Believe it or not, I get it Dean. You wanted a normal life. Your mom wanted a normal life too, you remind me of her actually. The attitude for one thing." His face softened and he smiled a little before getting back to business. "Your brother tell you what we've been dealing with the last couple months?"

"No, not really." He admitted. They hadn't really had any time for sharing and caring with the sudden emergency coming up. He wasn't really sure he wanted to know.

"I haven't seen anything like it. We've been working around the clock."

"So what's going on?"

"We don't know, but whatever it is, it goes way beyond a couple of djinn acting off. Nocturnals attacking in broad daylight, werewolves out on the half moon, creatures…things we haven't even seen before, we don't even know what they are." And that was a big deal for hunters. As long as they've been around, they should have a category for everything. "It's all making me uneasy."

He didn't really like the direction this was going, more importantly, he didn't like how his anticipation was building waiting for it. "What's your theory?"

"You tell me. All I can say is that it's all hands on deck right now. That's how Campbell's are. We need you Dean. We'd recruit Kayla too but, she's kind of got her hands full right now."

And he wasn't about to leave her to handle everything, not alone. He couldn't do it. "Look I hear you, but…"

"You don't know what you're part of Dean. You know you had ancestors hacking the heads off vamps on the Mayflower. What I'm saying is that we're you're blood, and we're out there dying trying to get in front of whatever this is. Maybe it's not the best time to be a 'soccer mom'."

Dean sighed and went to make the rounds, check out what was going on around the premises. He thought this was what he wanted, Sam was back, he was safe, hell, better than safe. He had backup. Now they wanted him back in and they just had to throw up the family card, every damn time. Why did everything have to be so damned complicated? Why wouldn't Sam just come back and hang out, have a few beers, stick around for awhile, be normal with them. At least for awhile.


	7. Chapter 7

When it got dark Dean and Sam cleared everyone out. Three djinn had been spotted in the woods, just waiting, and they sure as hell weren't coming in with the whole cavalry hanging around. They had to do this the old fashioned way; irresponsible placing of bait without the proper back up handy. Samuel and his group said they wouldn't be far, but they had to get out of sight to draw them in.

Even with just him and Sam it was weird; he hadn't seen him in over a year and now here he was, literally standing in the middle of Dean's new life.

"Are you okay?" Sam watched him pace back and forth in the kitchen.

"Oh yeah," he shook his head. "This is crazy. I mean you, and grandpa, and whoever brought you back…"

"They don't want to be found." Sam didn't really care so much about that part. He was out of hell, that was what mattered.

Dean had more questions than that. He wanted some damn answers. "Yeah I get that, but who are they? What do they want? Why?"

"That's a good question."

No sense in dwelling on unsolvable problems at the present time. "Do you remember it?"

Sam gave him a look. Really it was one of Dean's look, something along the lines of, _please don't turn this into a Kodak moment._ "What?"

"The cage."

"Yeah."

That was it? "You wanna…"

"No." He answered quickly, laughing a little uncomfortably. "Dean I don't wanna talk about it. I'm back. I get to breathe fresh air, have a beer, see my family, see you again, so why exactly would I want to think about hell?"

Huh. Be happy you're a live instead of dwelling on the whole torture for eternity. Maybe he should have thought about that one. He turned, just absently looking out the window when he saw the neighbor's house next door. Sid and his stupid ideas of marriage…shit. One of the djinn was in his house and…his jaw tightened. The djinn were turning the game around. They were trying to draw them out. Dean grabbed two of the syringes out of Sam's bag and ran towards the door.

"Dean! They're dead already, you know that."

"This is happening because of me!" He ran out the door, he wasn't about to let the whole neighborhood get killed while those fuckers played with him. In seconds he was over the fence and in the house. He hit the ground and checked their pulses but they were long gone. "Damn it Sid."

Two djinn came into the room and caught him off guard, he'd though they'd moved on to the next house. The woman stepped on one of the syringes, breaking it and the contents seeped into the carpet.

"You survived that last dose…" The guy grabbed him from behind as she approached him, pressing her hand against his neck. "So how about a big fat double dose?" A tattoo started to appear on her, working its way up her arm into her hand and he felt the effects of the poison start to set in. "Bad news, it'll kill you. Good news, you'll go fast." His eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the floor, they left him to die. Left him to get Sam.

When he heard the door shut he struggled to get to his feet and staggered towards the door. Out the window he saw Kayla, a bag over her shoulder and Alex on her other arm. He closed his eyes tightly and opened them again, still seeing them there. That had to be the trip, it couldn't be real. Kayla wouldn't come back so soon, not with Alex, not without him calling her.

"Don't worry about them Dean, worry about me." He looked to see Azazel standing beside him which actually made him more hopeful; he knew that was a hallucination. Suddenly he found himself in Alex's nursery, Azazel was standing by his crib. He cut his wrist, letting the blood drip into Alex's mouth. Just like Sammy, just like…oh God he didn't like this trip. He yelled at him despite himself, knowing there was nothing he could do either way.

"This, or something else." Azazel pointed out. "Something's coming for him, and you can't stop it."

He couldn't remember anything after that. The nightmare might have gone further, he didn't know. Before he knew it the sun was shining and he was awake again, Sam was kneeling beside him on the ground. "Dean, man, you okay?"

Okay was definitely not the word he would use. In fact, on an infinite list of words he could use to describe this situation, okay, nowhere near it. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, talk about the hangover from hell. "Did I win?"

Sam laughed quietly and helped him to his feet. "Yeah dude, took 'em all out." He put a hand on his shoulder to help steady him. "They're all dead, and just in time. I was afraid I wouldn't get over here quick enough."

"You almost didn't." He recalled. "Where's Samuel, and all our cousins?"

"They took off in a hurry, leave no trail you know? I'm supposed to meet them back at the motel before we take off, you coming with me?"

The thought had crossed his mind. "No. I gotta get back to Bobby's to pick them up."

"But I thought you said…"

"I did, I changed my mind." He answered quickly, trying not to leave room for argument. At this point he didn't think he could win one.

Sam sighed quietly. "Look, I practically shoved you in Kayla's direction, from the very beginning."

"That's a funny way to put it, but okay…"

"I'm just saying, I really wanted that for you. She's good for you Dean, and I thought you could have everything. You know? But now, I'm not so sure. I mean, you've gotta consider the fact that you'd be putting them in further danger by going back."

It was a little late to make that decision. "I've got a son, Sam. Things are different now, I get where you're coming from but really, am I just supposed to leave them alone, unprotected? That's out of danger?"

"You're the main target Dean. The big fish will come after you and yeah some littler ones may be dumb enough to go after the house but Kayla can take care of that. I mean she's got Cas on call still right?"

"It's not his responsibility to take care of my family, it's mine."

"We're you're family too."

Dean looked at him, a little shocked that he was trying to make him decide between them. "I just can't, Sam. You have to get that. I can't leave them."

He sighed a little and shrugged. "Yeah, I hear you. I just wish you were coming, things are better when you're around." He rubbed his neck and glanced for the door, now looking for a way out. "I should hit the road."

"Wait." He dug in his pockets and pulled out the keys to the Impala. "She should be hunting, take her."

His expression didn't change, it was uneventful even. "Thanks, really. But I got my car set up the way I like it."

That's right, he was driving the douche-mobile now. Some shiny new black sports car. Dean rolled his eyes and motioned for the door. "I'll walk you out." There was an awkward silence between them as they walked out to his car. "Take care of yourself and you know, visit every once in awhile. Kayla is gonna insist."

"Yeah, of course." He answered but didn't seem overly enthusiastic about it. It really wasn't the reunion he'd expected at all. Life wasn't a movie he supposed, well, a horror movie maybe, directed by Rob Zombie. He watched his brother drive away but still felt okay about it, at least he was alive.


	8. Chapter 8

It felt good to be home again, with everything relatively back to normal. He looked out into the yard as Kayla brought Alex up to his room; he'd fallen asleep in the car again and it was about everyone's bed time at this point. Dean heard her coming back downstairs, he shut the door and it was hard, but it felt like it was right. He stared at it for a moment before turning around to face Kayla. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You're here." She stated, the surprise evident in her voice. "Sam is back and he's hunting, you got the taste of it back in your mouth but…you're still here." She felt a little guilty now, honestly she hadn't even expected him to come back to Bobby's. She had just been waiting for the phone call.

He laughed a little, not being able to help it as a defense mechanism. She looked like she was ready to cry at any moment and he felt horrible. As he stepped up to her he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug and kissed her on the forehead. "I haven't been that restless have I?"

She buried her face into his chest and everything about him felt different. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

"I'm sorry, okay?" He leaned back and kissed her. "This is where I'm at now, with you and Alex. The djinn thing…shit like that is gonna happen, we can't help it. I'm not gonna make you move again, we're just going to take it as it comes." They knew they already had to act surprised when the authorities found Sid and his wife's bodies, he was still torn up about that one.

"That's, awesome." She wiped her eyes. She was so convinced he was going to take off with Sam and their grandfather, she didn't even know what to do. "I guess I should have given you more credit."

"Yeah well," he smirked. "I forgive you." Because he almost did, he hoped she didn't know how close it was. Dean kissed her again and his hand brushed against the side of her face and along to the back of her neck. In that instant everything felt like it was right again, like the weight of the world had been pulled off his shoulders and he could finally breathe easy. His brother was alive and well, along with Kayla and Alex, everyone had made it through.

Kayla felt the change in him and it felt so damn good to have him back, really back. "I love you." She murmured against the kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck. His reply came out more in a muffled groan as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her roughly against him. He pulled back for a moment to glance to the stairs with a deviant look before shaking his head. "Definitely not, can't wake him up. Guest room." Dean closed his hand over hers and led her into the guest room down the hall, barely making it through the doorway before he kissed her again. He lifted her up and wrapped her legs around his waist before dropping them to the bed. As her head went back he kissed her neck, sending waves of goose bumps across her skin and he laughed quietly. "I still got it."

"You still got it." She breathed in agreement and tucked her hands under his jacket, pushing it off of his shoulders. Her hands trailed slowly against the muscles in his arms and she leaned up to kiss his lips again. He lowered his body against hers and she sighed quietly, making a silent prayer that it would stay like this. They could hold on to this feeling, right?


End file.
